What is this site about? What’s a free market atheist? Aren’t atheists communists? All good questions, all of which will be explored in due course. Visit the About The Site page for the full story behind this site and our goals for it. However, the most recent and direct impetus for Free Market Atheist was a February 14th discussion I had on Facebook with the great Will Spencer on the subject of a pastor that 2016 Republican presidential candidate Ted Cruz had defended, after that person made anti-Semitic remarks.

Will lamented the lack of coverage of this story on the rightist side of politics, with it having been limited at that time to only Jewish and leftist publications:

Those “limited options” are exactly what you predicted. So far, this story is only in the Jewish press and the leftist press. If it doesn’t escape those walls, it says very bad things about the GOP — the exact bad things about which you posted.

I agree. Atheists come from all walks of life, and represent the entire political spectrum, but conservative and libertarian atheists don’t have many outlets from which to speak about religion, atheism, and indeed, against anti-Semitic pastors. Just because someone is a Republican or a conservative or a libertarian, that doesn’t give them a pass on saying things or defending people that we’d roundly criticize Democrats, liberals, socialists for saying or defending. When Reverend Jeremiah Wright was found to have made anti-Semitic and anti-American statements, we demanded that President Obama denounce him. Eventually he did and it should be no different now for Cruz or any other candidate who is “on our side.” We must hold ourselves to the same standard and perhaps a higher one.

That’s just the impetus though. For me, the purpose behind this site is a larger one, as a place to discuss these issues but also to show that, yes Virginia, conservative and libertarian free marketer atheists do exist. The old ideas of atheists as “Godless Communists” is an incorrect one, and that’s a view I’m hoping to reverse here.

There’s a lot of work to do before that can be achieved, though, so let’s get on to it.